The Vegetarian Diet For Dogs.
What You'll Need To Know
To Keep Your Dog Healthy

The Vegetarian Diet

First some history

Most of us believe that dog's and cat's have been meat eaters from the beginning of time. Hunt and be hunted is the ecological way to strengthen the herbivores by weeding out the sick and the weak, therefore keeping a balance of population. Wolves and wild cats being predators, rely on eating a high protein diet. Their digestive systems are well adapted to breaking down proteins and using them efficiently.

In a pack situation, when a wolf pack, for example, brings down a prey animal, the leaders (Alpha's) who have first crack at eating, don't go for what we might have considered the best parts. Instead, they go for the stomach, where pre-digested grains and grasses can be found. For essential vitamins and minerals, they eat the heart, liver, etc. Thus the natural diet is far more varied. Wild dogs and cats eat not only the meat but also the bones (rich in calcium), the organs, and the intestines containing assorted vegetable matter.

Scientific studies have revealed that an all meat diet is not healthy. The name for it is "all meat disease syndrome". Animals that are fed meat alone develop soft bones, general poor condition and sometimes die. The condition is attributed to lack of adequate calcium, iodine and vitamins A and B1, and to a poor calcium to phosphorus ratio. Meat is particularly deficient in calcium.

If fed a verity of food (less meat) deficiencies are unlikely. If you will be making your own, make sure the foods choices contain all the necessary nutrients essential for your pets health.
Omnivores are able to find all the nutrients they require for an active, healthy life through vegetarian sources.Feeding a vegetarian diet is realistic and can be beneficial for your dog.
A sure way to ensure that your pet is getting a properly balanced vegetarian diet is to feed it a commercial food. made for this. A high quality food has all the essential nutrients required to keep your pet in tip top shape.

Most dog food manufacturers are geared to a meat protein and supplement diet, more vegetarian diet foods are being produced. With certain Legumes, Lentils, etc. being high in protein it is easily produced. Soy and wheat based foods have been available for years.
Vegetarian diets can be the better choice for some animals.More and more pets are being diagnosed with allergies. Some of these allergies come from animal proteins. Thus eliminating this from the diet the animal will not suffer from food born allergies.

* Improved Dental Hygiene
* Healthier Skin and Coat
* Improved Digestion
* Improved Weight management
* Increased Energy

• If using a commercial feed find a reputable source. Check the lables. (read the section on labels in commercial food.
  
• Many animals will eat a vegetable diet but prefur cooked vegetables appose to raw.
  
• Raw chopped or grated fruit, dried fruit.
• Wholemeal bread (fresh or toasted), Marmite sandwiches, baked rusk.
  
• Brown rice, sprouting grains.
  
• Remember that dogs need some hard foods to chew to exercise their gums and jaws; perpetual sloppy food leads to dental tartar, pyorrhea and loose teeth. Dogs can chew raw whole carrots, lightly roasted cabbage stumps, nylon bones, raw whole apples, hard wholemeal dog biscuits.
  
• Given daily, a teaspoon of uncooked vegetable oil such as sunflower seed oil, by mouth or in the food (but unheated) for a medium sized dog such as a cocker spaniel, or a few drops for a toy poodle, helps provide essential fatty acids (polyunsaturates) to condition the coat. Vegetable oil should be stored in a closed bottle in a cool, dark place (preferably a refrigerator) to prevent oxidation of fatty acids. Oil may cause diarrhoea in a few dogs, in such cases the quantity should be reduced.
  

At about 3 weeks of age

Offer small dishes of milk with baby cereals or finely ground whole cereals as a sloppy gruel (you may flavor this with a pinch of dried brewers yeast powder to enrich B vitamins). A little later, offer other foods from the list. Start with easily digested foods like cottage cheese and poached egg. If certain foods cause serious diarrhea, avoid these. Feed small meals about five or six times daily as young animals cannot digest large amounts at a time.


Eight weeks to four months

Give four small meals daily. As a basic guide:
8.00am: Cereal in milk.
Noon: nutmeat and vegetables, egg, cheese, grated nuts, wholemeal bread with Marmite or Barmene, fruit etc.
4.00pm: as 8.00am
8.00: similar to noon.
Also provide foods to gnaw as described earlier.


Four months to eight months

Omit one meal, eg the 8.00am meal thus reducing to three somewhat larger meals.


Eight months and older

Feed as adult diet, usually two meals daily. Toy dogs often stay on three or four meals daily.


How much should you feed

This will depend on the individual animal. Small dogs eat far less than large breed dogs. As a rule feed 1oz (30g) of total food per pound of body weight for growing puppies and 1/2oz (15g) per pound for adult dogs.


This estimate can be altered by:


• the liquid content of the food.
• the calorie content of the food; a dog with a tendency to be overweight can eat a lot of low calorie vegetables such as cabbage and cauliflower, but much less of high calorie bread or cereals to produce the same calorie intake.
• individual variation: for example, some highly-strung German shepherds require three to four times the calorie intake needed by some Labradors the same size, or by some German shepherds with a lower metabolic rate. The progress of the individual animal should always be the main guide provided that a nutritionally balanced diet is fed.
  

Ware Are The Nutrients?

• Best sources: Cheese, eggs, soya beans, soya flour, tofu, soya protein.
  
• Other useful sources: Pulses (lentils, beans, split peas), whole cereals and wheatgerm, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, nuts except chestnuts and coconuts.
  

• Mainly saturated: butter, hard margarines, cheese, eggs, olives and olive oil.
  
• Intermediate: nuts, coconuts, wheat germ and their oils.
  
• Mainly unsaturated: sunflower seed oil, safflower seed oil, corn oil, linseed oil, soya oil, soft margarines which state high polyunsaturate content.
  

• Cereals and their products (flour, bread, cakes etc), bananas, chestnuts, cashews, pulses, pears, dried fruit (not raisins), potatoes, sugar etc.
  

• Vegetables, bran and whole cereals, pulses.
  

• Vitamin A:
  1. as vitamin A - margarine, butter, milk, cheese, eggs.
  2. as the precursor carotene - carrots and green vegetables.
  
  In dogs, carotene has about half the nutritional value of actual vitamin A.
  

• Vitamin D:
  1. As vitamin D - Margarine, butter, eggs, milk.
  2. As its precursor, which is converted by sunlight on the animal's skin to vitamin D - green leafy vegetables, cereal germ, yeast.
  
  
• Vitamin E:
  Cereal germs (especially wheat germ oil), green leafy vegetables eg cabbage, spinach, curly kale, lettuce.
  
  
• Vitamin K:
  Green leafy vegetables.
  
  
• B-complex vitamins (except b12):
  
  Yeast, whole cereals, cereal germs, bran, eggs, various vegetables, nuts.
  
  Easily destroyed by cooking.
  
  
• Vitamin B12:
  Barmene, fortified soya milk, cheese, some TVPs (read the label!), milk.
  
  
• Vitamin C:
  Fresh sprouts, curly kale, black currants, rose hip pulp and syrup, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, citrus fruits, strawberries, tomatoes, green peppers.
  
  Vitamin C is not normally essential for dogs as they synthesise their own. However, some researchers suggest that vitamin C synthesis in dogs may be inadequate on a low protein diet and a few individuals may not be able to synthesise the vitamin and so require it in the diet.
  

• Calcium:
  • Good sources: cheese, yogurt, sesame seeds.
  • Fair: almonds, black radish, kohlrabi leaves, dried figs, cucumbers, ripe beans, lemons, milk, tangerines, leeks, curly kale, lettuce, cauliflower, endive, celery, peanuts.
    
  • Foods with a good calcium/phosphate balance: cheese, yogur, ripe beans, ripe peas, lentils, hens eggs, currants, curly kale, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, white cabbage, salsify, dried figs, milk, cauliflower, celeriac, lettuce, dates, bananas, oranges, peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts.
  • Low calcium relative to phosphorus: cereals and their products e.g. bread, flour.
    
    
  These foods need to be balanced with higher calcium foods to prevent calcium deficiencies. Phytic acid in cereals may also reduce calcium absorption. Soaking grains overnight is believed to activate enzymes which break down the phytic acid. Vitamin D is essential for calcium absorption.
  
  
• Iron:
  • Celeriac, cream cheese, tangerines, spinach, various fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole cereals.
    
    
• Iodine:
  • Seaweed, eg kelp powder, eggs, whole grain rye and wheat, lettuce.
    
    
  Other minerals are generally well provided in a diet containing a variety of vegetables, fruit, nuts, milk, cheese, eggs.
  
  

Milk alone is not an adequate source of calcium for puppies and a mineral supplement of calcium phosphate is recommended. Rapidly growing dogs of heavy breeds particularly need a high calcium intake.

Foods to avoid: Macadamia nuts, raisins, chocolate and raw onions should be all be avoided as they are poisonous when ingested in large enough quantities.

Based on a leaflet originally compiled for the Vegetarian Society by C.M.Morey

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